The latest release from Intrada is a three-disc expanded version of John Williams' Oscar-nominated score for director Roland Emmerich's 2000 Revolutionary War drama THE PATRIOT, starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, featuring the full 107-minute score plus alternates, source music, and the 72-minute sequencing of the original soundtrack CD.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominations for the 97th Oscars, including the music categories:
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
THE BRUTALIST - Daniel Blumberg
CONCLAVE - Volker Bertelmann
EMILIA PÉREZ - Clément Ducol and Camille
WICKED - John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
THE WILD ROBOT - Kris Bowers
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
EL MAL - from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
THE JOURNEY - from The Six Triple Eight; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
LIKE A BIRD - from Sing Sing; Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
MI CAMINO - from Emilia Pérez; Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
NEVER TOO LATE - from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin
Daniel Blumberg, Clément Ducol and Camille are first-time nominees. Volker Bertelmann was previously nominated for Lion (with Dustin O'Halloran) and won for All Quiet on the Western Front. John Powell's only previous nomination was for How to Train Your Dragon, whlie Kris Bowers had been nominated twice before but not for music, only for Documentary Short, winning at the most recent ceremony for The Last Repair Shop. This is the ninth nomination for Stephen Schwartz, already a three-time winner. Diane Warren has been nominated 15 times previously and has an honorary Oscar. Elton John has four previous nominations and two Oscars, one of which he shared with Bernie Taupin.
None of the nominated scores has received a commercial CD release. Conclave and The Wild Robot are available on vinyl, and since A24 has its own vinyl label, I suspect they will release The Brutalist at some point. A physical release of the Powell/Schwartz incidental music for Wicked seems unlikely, but not impossible.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
Beverly Hills Cop III - Nile Rodgers - La-La Land
The Dark Crystal - Trevor Jones - La-La land
John Barry: The Polydor Years - John Barry - Quartet
Licence to Kill - Michael Kamen - La-La Land
The Patriot - John Williams - Intrada Special Collection
IN THEATERS TODAY
Brave the Dark - Jacob Yoffee, Roahn Hylton
Flight Risk - Antonio Pinto
Grand Theft Hamlet - Jamie Perera
Inheritance - Paul Leonard-Morgan
Presence - Zack Ryan
Rose - Aurelie Saada
COMING SOON
January 31
The World of Hans Zimmer Part II: A New Dimension - Hans Zimmer - Sony
March 7
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim - Stephen Gallagher - Mutant
March 21
Anthology: The Paris Concerts - Howard Shore - Deutsche Grammophon
The Apprentice - Martin Dirkov, David Holmes, Brian Byrne - Filmtrax
Coming Soon
The Bruce Broughton Collection Vol. 1 - Bruce Broughton - Dragon's Domain
Confessoine di un Commissario di Polizia al Procuratore della Republica - Riz Ortolani - Quartet
Gold of the Amazon Women - Gil Melle - Dragon's Domain
The Golden Age of Science-Fiction Vol. 7 - Les Baxter, Ib Glindemann, Sven Gyldmark, Richard LaSalle, Ronald Stein - Dragon's Domain
No Escape - Bert Shefter - Kronos
The She Creature - Ronald Stein - Kronos
Tre Colonne in Cronaca - Ennio Morricone - Quartet
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
January 24 - Muir Mathieson born (1911)
January 24 - Norman Dello Joio born (1913)
January 24 - Joseph Carl Breil died (1926)
January 24 - Nico Fidenco born (1933)
January 24 - Neil Diamond born (1941)
January 24 - Bernard Herrmann records his score for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode “The Jar” (1964)
January 24 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Conundrum” (1992)
January 24 - Ken Darby died (1992)
January 24 - Larry Crosley died (1998)
January 25 - Albert Glasser born (1916)
January 25 - Antonio Carlos Jobim born (1927)
January 25 - Benny Golson born (1929)
January 25 - Tobe Hooper born (1943)
January 25 - Hans-Erik Philip born (1943)
January 25 - Venedikt Pushkov died (1971)
January 25 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for Poltergeist (1982)
January 25 - Paul J. Smith died (1985)
January 25 - James Horner begins recording his score for A Far Off Place (1993)
January 25 - Gregory Smith records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Field of Fire” (1999)
January 25 - Simeon Pironkov died (2000)
January 25 - Normand Corbeil died (2013)
January 25 - John Morris died (2018)
January 26 - Hugo Riesenfeld born (1879)
January 26 - Stephane Grappelli born (1908)
January 26 - Ken Thorne born (1924)
January 26 - Marc Fredericks born (1927)
January 26 - Alfred Newman begins recording his score for Take Care of My Little Girl (1951)
January 26 - Christopher L. Stone born (1952)
January 26 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording his score for All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)
January 26 - Elmer Bernstein begins recording his score for The Miracle (1959)
January 26 - George Bassman records his score for Ride the High Country (1962)
January 26 - Wendy Melvoin born (1964)
January 26 - Victoria Kelly born (1973)
January 26 - Recording sessions begin for Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Damnation Alley (1977)
January 26 - Gustavo Dudamel born (1981)
January 26 - Ron Jones records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "A Matter of Honor" (1989)
January 26 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Q-Less” (1993)
January 26 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Far Beyond the Stars” (1998)
January 26 - Bruce Broughton begins recording his score for Mickey Donald Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004)
January 26 - Michel Legrand died (2019)
January 27 - Jerome Kern born (1885)
January 27 - Alaric Jans born (1949)
January 27 - Mike Patton born (1968)
January 27 - David Shire begins recording his score for All the President's Men (1976)
January 27 - Leonard Rosenman begins recording his score for The Car (1977)
January 27 - Craig Safan records his scores for the Twilight Zone episodes “To See the Invisible Man” and “Tooth and Consequences” (1986)
January 27 - Arthur Kempel records his score for the Twilight Zone episode “The Elevator” (1986)
January 27 - Norman McLaren died (1987)
January 27 - Dennis McCarthy records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Phage” (1995)
January 28 - Karl Hajos born (1889)
January 28 - Paul Misraki born (1908)
January 28 - John Tavener born (1944)
January 28 - Burkhard Dallwitz born (1959)
January 28 - Lalo Schifrin records his score for Once a Thief (1965)
January 28 - Lalo Schifrin records his score for the Mission: Impossible pilot (1966)
January 28 - Bruce Broughton records his score for Trail Mix-Up (1993)
January 28 - Giancarlo Bigazzi died (2012)
January 28 - John Cacavas died (2014)
January 29 - Leslie Bricusse born (1931)
January 29 - Leith Stevens begins recording his score for The Atomic City (1952)
January 29 - Victor Young begins recording his score for Forever Female (1953)
January 29 - David Robbins born (1955)
January 29 - Joseph Mullendore records his score for the Lost in Space episode "Space Beauty" (1968)
January 29 - Georges Van Parys died (1971)
January 29 - Henry Mancini begins recording his score for Condorman (1981)
January 29 - Panu Aaltio born (1982)
January 29 - Rogier Van Otterloo died (1988)
January 29 - Don Davis records his score for the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Face of the Enemy” (1993)
January 29 - Berto Pisano died (2002)
January 29 - Rod McKuen died (2015)
January 30 - Morton Stevens born (1929)
January 30 - Franz Waxman records his score for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
January 30 - Recording sessions begin for Frederick Hollander’s score for The Affairs of Susan (1945)
January 30 - Phil Collins born (1951)
January 30 - Steve Bartek born (1952)
January 30 - Recording sessions begin for Lyn Murray’s score for On the Threshold of Space (1956)
January 30 - George Duning begins recording his score for the pilot movie for Then Came Bronson (1969)
January 30 - Robert Folk begins recording his score for Police Academy (1984)
January 30 - Jean Constantin died (1997)
January 30 - Jay Chattaway records his score for the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Rise” (1997)
January 30 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score for U.S. Marshals (1998)
January 30 - Manuel Balboa died (2004)
January 30 - John Barry died (2011)
January 30 - William Motzing died (2014)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE BRUTALIST - Daniel Blumberg
"No matter, Brody has always embodied a certain tenaciousness (in both his screen image and his career trajectory), and he won’t let Tóth get disheartened so easily. We’re told that his character’s nose is broken, but the actor’s face makes it impossible to tell. This is a man on the upswing, and he’s carried to Philadelphia on the strength of Daniel Blumberg’s throbbing score, which pivots between industrial percussion and brassy jazz horns with the force of a twin-piston engine. Corbet lets it rip all too selectively, but the music provides a perfect accompaniment to the epistolary montages in which Tóth’s letters to Erzsébet are intercut with archival footage of post-war industry, as if it were the sound of personal biography getting ingested into history."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"Adrien Brody does the best work of his career as László Tóth, who is introduced in an essential, tone-setting sequence. At first, it’s hard to tell where he is, surrounded by people in an overcrowded space with the cacophony of conversations around him and the booming score from Daniel Blumberg starting to make itself known. As he moves through the crowd, he pushes himself through doors and into sunlight, his face bursting with happiness at the site of the Statue of Liberty, but Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley warp the moment by presenting the iconic structure upside down, at the top of the frame. The statue shifts to the side, but it’s never upright, a warped symbol of the American dream, an overture of the film’s main theme to follow in the form of an unforgettable image. This prologue also includes a quote from Goethe that feels like the most pronounced Corbet & Fastvold get in how to read what follows: 'None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe themselves free.' 'The Brutalist' is also a technical marvel, most notably in Crawley’s fluid cinematography, crafting compositions that look gorgeous in 70mm without ever feeling overly showy. His work is organic and beautiful, and it’s anchored by excellent editing from Dávid Jancsó and an effective score by Blumberg. The sound design as a whole is a load-bearing beam in this film’s construction, from the hum of that first scene to the many sequences of men at work, the background noise of the 'American Dream' after World War II."
Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
"Just like László overseeing Van Buren’s artisan builders, Corbet marshalls some serious talent to execute this grand vision: from cinematographer Lol Crawley’s shadowy lighting and shallow focus compositions; to costume designer Kate Forbes’ striking fabrics; to Daniel Blumberg’s electrifying modernist score. Together, they’ve crafted a new world symphony."
Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
"'The Brutalist is the first feature of his that’s actually lead [sic] by his characters rather than pinning those characters onto major milestones like display butterflies, and even then, it loses its focus by the end, rushing toward a conclusion that’s presented as a hasty reveal rather than something you really want the movie to dwell on. Still, there’s half a great movie here, and in the high ceilings of László’s community center, the swell of the score, and those wide shots of columns going up on a green hillside, there’s plenty of room to grow."
Alison Willmore, New York
"But The Brutalist initially begins with a dazzling sequence where the cacophony of excited immigrants pulling into Ellis Island intermingles with Daniel Blumberg’s raucous score. A frenetic, disorienting handheld camera barely manages to stay adjoined with László and his friend as they emerge from the inside of the boat to witness the outstretched arm of Lady Liberty guiding them to dock. Though, it’s a painfully obvious omen of things to come for László, as the camera frames the mighty statue upside-down."
Brianna Zigler, AV Club
"Not long into 'The Brutalist,' the director Brady Corbet plunges us into darkness -- a darkness that, although neither formless nor void, marks the film as a creation story. Deep in the hold of a ship that has just arrived in New York Harbor, the camera is propelled deckward, alongside a weary Hungarian Jewish refugee, László Tóth (Adrien Brody), as he pushes his way through the crowd. It’s 1947, and the horrors that László fled in Europe -- he survived Buchenwald -- seem to coalesce, below deck, in Corbet’s virtuosic shadow play. The weight of the past bears down on László in the handheld jostling of the camera, in the ticking-time-bomb percussion of Daniel Blumberg’s score, and, most of all, in the sombre, disembodied voice of László’s wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), from whom he was cruelly separated. 'There is nothing left for us here,' she writes to him. 'Go to America and I will follow you.' As László arrives in America, his career glories -- and his beloved Erzsébet, stuck back in Hungary with their young niece, Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) -- seem lost to the past. All he has now are his clothes, a persistent heroin addiction, and the faintest of hopes for the future. The movie, for its part, peers relentlessly forward. Crawley’s recurring signature shot is a head-on view of a road or train tracks rushing beneath us, often backed by the quickening churn of the score: the music of industrial progress. László makes his way to booming Philadelphia, where he moves in with a friendly cousin, Attila (Alessandro Nivola), who has a frosty shiksa wife (Emma Laird) and a furniture store with more supply than demand."
Justin Chang, The New Yorker
"Much like its subject’s architectural undertakings, 'The Brutalist' -- actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet’s mammoth mid-century odyssey -- has been long in the making: six years, two principal casts, and countless obstacles, to be exact. And it shows, in sheer craft and consideration. You don’t have to look further than the opening credits. A strange busy body of text crawls horizontally across the screen in one long train of evolving brutalist design, country roads at dawn racing by behind the text in superwide shots strapped to the grill of a speeding car, a la 'Fury Road.' The sequence takes off to the sound of chugging cellos and an anvil of a drum. Wincing violins and clanking piano keys trickle in with an offbeat dissonance that complicates the breathtaking beauty of it all. An insanely accomplished architect, László is implied to be near-legendary in his prime, but is living below the radar as a result of the war (He survived Buchenwald and Erzsébet and Zsófia survived Dachau, albeit with severe health conditions). He is an understated man–humble, sad-eyed, appreciative, driven–until someone interferes with his plans. He carries no pomp or expectation, despite his achievements, or perhaps because of them, a lasting sense of contentment and meaning imbued by work. Soft, cozy, floating piano lightens the film’s atmosphere often, even when conflicts are in freefall, all moments moored by the same circumstance: László at work. For better or worse, he adores his work. The film is split in half -- 'Chapter 1: The Enigma of Arrival' and 'Chapter 2: The Hardcore of Beauty' -- with the three-and-a-half hour runtime divided by a 15-minute intermission and tagged with an epilogue that brings the span of the epic up to 33 years. The intermission, although obviously nice for the legs and bladder, packs an inimitable punch in the grand scheme of the film’s pacing, swelling the viewer into a frenzy of anticipation as part one comes to an electrifying close via archival Pennsylvania steel ads, Erzsébet’s voiceover reading of a monumental letter, and Blumberg’s prospector’s march of a score."
Luke Hicks, Paste Magazine
"The movie is dedicated to the memory of composer Scott Walker, who died in 2019 and who scored Corbet’s previous films. Blumberg’s stirring work honors him with subtle echoes, also evoking comparison at times with the jagged edges of Mica Levi or the solemn grandeur of Terence Blanchard."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
CARRY-ON - Lorne Balfe
"Watching 'Carry-On' on Netflix, you may actually take some pleasure in its preposterousness, which leaves ample room -- in the form of long dialogue-free stretches, where Lorne Balfe’s generic score gives everything a made-for-TV feel -- to provide sarcastic commentary from the family couch. If you’re traveling this Christmas, take pity on those TSA agents. And if you’re staying home, take comfort as 'Carry-On' puts one through the ringer."
Peter Debruge, Variety
DAY OF THE FIGHT - Ben McDiarmid
"It's a film designed to evoke that longer, earlier tradition of boxing movies, with gorgeous, simple, precise black-and-white cinematography by Peter Simonite. There aren't huge set pieces here, and there are no gimmicks. Instead, a lot of close-ups highlighting character subjectivity, and one-on-one conversations in tight focus. The classic, simple score would fit just as easily in the 1940s as it does here, all factors working to establish a singular tone and build towards the fateful fight. What it's trying to do is a little telegraphed for viewers versed in these sorts of films, but it remains effective and gorgeous to look at."
Jeff Ewing, Collider
THE END - Music by Joshua Schmidt, Lyrics by Joshua Oppenheimer; Score by Joshua Schmidt and Marius De Vries
"Like all good musicals (at least in theory), the characters move the plot forward by projecting their feelings in song. These powerful compositions feature music by Joshua Schmidt and lyrics by Oppenheimer. Many of them are memorable, a few are genuinely fantastic, and it doesn’t hurt that MacKay, Swinton, and Ingram can belt the hell out of them. MacKay’s singing skills are, notably, something of a revelation. Moreover, while perhaps too many of the songs are staged simply in the increasingly claustrophobic sets, Oppenheimer is inspired by two numbers to whip up something grand. Toward the beginning of the film, Son sings an optimistic tome (song titles were not provided to critics) as he dances through the salt mine. At one point, MacKay pulls off a masterfully timed flip down a salt hill that teases more musical wonder than Oppenheimer is willing or able to deliver overall. Another stirring number follows Father as he climbs a gigantic carved-out salt wall. There is an impressive shot when he reaches the peak and a taste of an old-school dance number with Butler to close it out. For the most part, however, the characters sing their songs in one room or walk through familiar rooms again and again. That is not uncommon in filmed musicals, but 'The End' yearns for more cinematic creativity. Especially with such a predictable and drawn-out storyline. All that being said, the songs are impressive enough that it’s not hard to envision 'The End' becoming something of a cult musical. Five years from now, maybe less, some excited college freshman is going to convince the head of their college drama department to let them put on a stage version of this musical. And chances are, it will be a smash. This is material that, with some editing of its book (er, script), a spotlight on the songs, and natural physical intimacy, could flourish on the stage. Oppenheimer and his collaborators might not want to hear that now, but in many ways it’s a compliment. And, frankly, a legacy many musical producers and directors dream of."
Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist
"And yes, it is a musical. The songs, composed by Joshua Schmidt and Marius de Vries, replicate the graceful harmonies of Broadway’s Golden Age, with lyrics that edge into the caustic-poetic. 'To think this all leads to us,' the parents delusionally croon to their child. 'To think this all ends with you. Only you' -- as if they’re anointing him with a halo of flowers instead of foretelling his lonely death. There are even a couple of scattershot dance numbers. The songs’ shimmering melodies keep threatening to dissolve into the atonal, musically replicating the sense that oblivion lurks behind these walls decorated with Renoirs and Manets salvaged from civilization. That the cast doesn’t really consist of Broadway-ready actors adds that extra discordant note. There is something discomfiting and funny about watching Michael Shannon try to sing, as there should be."
Bilge Ebiri, New York
"That predictable upstairs/downstairs dynamic is given little lift or texture by the mostly immemorable score. The music would have benefitted greatly from more of Joshua Schmidt's jagged, discordant sensibilities and less of the big tune tendencies of his collaborator here, Marius de Vries (best known in cinematic circles for 'Romeo + Juliet' and 'Moulin Rouge'). It's hard not to feel that Oppenheimer should have been even more ambitious in his musical selection, gone for a full modern operatic endeavor, called John Adams or Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell, and said, 'I want a "Nixon in China!" I want my own 'The Manchurian Candidate!" There are flashes of grandeur, as when MacKay indulges in a Kurt Weill-influenced pratfall song-and-dance routine to 'Alone,' but they’re few and far between. That tune has Schmidt's cunning signature all over it and is also one of the few times that cinematographer Mikhail Krichman can cut loose. Best known for his work with Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev ('Loveless,' 'Leviathan'), he works miracles with a set that is mostly just endless blue walls and rippling tunnels, but there’s really not that much going on in front of them."
Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle
"The performers follow suit, circling the contained set while performing their tedious musical monologues. Oppenheimer wrote the lyrics, with buried discomfort sometimes peeking through the atonal sunniness, which are set to composer Joshua Schmidt’s tunes. Despite how they’re deployed, they aren’t the earworms of Hollywood’s Golden Age, or even especially melodic, but songs that are nearly as perfunctory and mundane as the family’s daily routine. Just as they drink wine with their lavish meals despite its sourness, they sing out their emotions despite the shared fiction that they don’t have any—their excess must be sustained despite all evidence to the contrary. When these stifled, stunted emotions threaten to surface (like in Shannon’s big number) or manifest perhaps for the first time (when Son falls for Girl), the music and choreography get the closest to holding our interest. Mikhail Krichman’s nimble camera flows through the looping compound in long takes, his lights shifting from warm to cold tones in response to the mood of the repetitive songs. Ingram and MacKay are the best singers of the bunch, though Shannon is a compelling enough presence to hold your gaze throughout his oddly-pitched songs (Swinton cannot boast even that). The younger cast members, MacKay especially, are allowed some pliability in the stiff film—when MacKay’s man-child cuts loose, windmilling his arms around wildly, life springs forth for the first time in the foreboding, shadowy tunnels."
Jacob Oller, AV Club
"There’s an old joke about Noel Coward buying the rights to 'My Fair Lady' and stripping out the musical numbers to turn it back into 'Pygmalion.' I thought about that while watching 'The End,' a two-and-a-half-hour, post-apocalyptic musical that is really more of a 100-minute post-apocalyptic drama with songs. The numbers aren’t terrible. They’re just not good enough to be worth your while. They don’t add much to the plot or the characters or their motivations. They mostly just stop the action while people sing about things you already saw in their faces or heard in their dialogue, and when they’re finished they pick up the action again. I’d be very intrigued to see an atonal edit."
Chris Knight, Original Cin
"In 'The End,' that fantasy is naturally made real through song. Doubling down on the theatricality of 'The Act of Killing,' Oppenheimer fully commits to the bit here, peppering the movie with upbeat but samey musical numbers that range from gentle asides to exuberant declarations (MacKay gets the closest thing this movie has to a showstopper, the sequence achieving uncharacteristic energy with the help of Mikhail Krichman’s slapstick choreography). Composers Josh Schmidt and Marius de Vries set the tone with a springy overture awash with strings and clarinets, and the rest of the score holds fast to that sense of denial. The songs themselves grip it even tighter, as their lyrics and instrumentation combine to suggest a heightened take on the sort of ditties that a regular person might sing to themselves in order to forget that every legitimate musician on the planet has been killed in a nuclear holocaust (or whatever). The music allows us to buy into the delusion of the film’s premise, and the delusion of the film’s premise allows us to appreciate the music for what it is in return -- to hear Swinton’s reedy timbre as a feature not a bug, and delight in the unexpected pleasures of listening to Shannon’s voice crack as he warbles about the love that keeps his family alive. Unlike in 'Dancer in the Dark,' where the ecstasy of the songs was used to underscore the misery of everything else, these numbers feel like a natural extension of the movie around them, which is generally somber but never grim enough to reflect the truth of the situation."
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
"'The End''s major downfall, aside from being overlong and ideologically tepid, is that its musical numbers are dull and discordant. Despite its stage-influenced production design and a single fleeting tap-dance sequence, the lyrics penned by Oppenheimer and music composed by Joshua Schmidt don’t capture the songwriting finesse of the Golden Age they so desperately wish to emulate. Each character, except for Doctor and Butler, have their own solo performance -- wherein individual traumas are exorcised in order to maintain their utopian illusion -- though harmonized phrases convey far more about the fantasy they’re forced to project. 'Together our future is brighter,' they sing, teeth bared in grins that could easily give way to grimaces. If Oppenheimer is interested in the contrast of escapist performance with the corrupt fabric of our reality, he should have focused more on constructing a catchy tune. (In the press notes, he cites 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,' Gene Kelly and Busby Berkeley as references; 'The End' possesses nothing of their constructed charm)."
Natalia Keogan, Paste Magazine
"All musicals require that hoary notion of suspended disbelief, with the most articulate explanation being that one bursts into song when mere dialogue is insufficient to express emotion. That’s very much at play here, but it’s through the guilded, ornamentalized orchestration that the film finds any modicum of sunny lushness within the cramped confines of the underground compound. While the script is co-written with fellow Dane Rasmus Heisterberg ('Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,' 'A Royal Affair'), the lyrics are by Oppenheimer and throughout speak to the rage and sadness of those physically saved yet emotionally left behind. His collaborator for creating the music is Marius De Vries, whose own career has quietly touched more than a normal share of masterful works as well, and Joshua Schmidt. De Vries’s credits include collaborations with the likes of Madonna, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and Björk. He was music director for Baz Luhrmann’s lurid, luscious 'Moulin Rouge!,' provided the score for 'Kick-Ass' by Matthew Vaughn, and most recently provided an elegant score to Daniel Roher’s Oscar-winning documentary 'Navalny.' All of these musical ingredients from a varied career are exercised here, from the pompous to the subtle to the superheroic, with angular chords meeting baroque excesses, leading to moments as unsettling as they are moving. Save for Ingram, none of the cast have particularly strong voices, yet all manage to express their characters in deeply, sometimes unsettlingly intimate ways. Swinton’s raw, almost ravaged remarks are expressed in a higher register that feels reedy yet plausibly vulnerable. Occasionally harmonies swirl around each other, but for the most part, these are sung soliloquies, isolations within isolation, inner thoughts expressed within the context of the claustrophobia. Most of these songs are captured in either one or two shots, the camera swirling around in a kind of dance, the singing captured with what sounds like an on-set performance sung rather than mimed to a backing track, providing that much more emotional immediacy. While 'The End' may lack the zing of Don McKellar’s magnificent 'Last Night,' the dark hostility of Craig Zobel’s 'Z for Zachariah,' or even the chilling feeling of entombment in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 'Downfall,' all apocalyptic in their own ways, Oppenheimer’s more subtle take may prove to be ripe for revisiting. If it only serves as an excuse for us to revel in the skills of this ensemble it may be enough, but given the complexity of the score, the poetic lyricism may require more time than a single viewing to parse. Its curated yet emotionally chaotic production design by Jette Lehmann (who also provided the look for Lars von Trier’s similarly themed 'Melancholia') is certainly worth more time to dig into the corners of the frame. Stripped from narrative concerns and only focusing on the character beats, this is almost certainly a film that on revisit will reward those willing to once again lock themselves underground."
Jason Gorber, Collider
"And no, they don’t sing show tunes to pass the time; they sing their thoughts, substituting melody for conversation in a way that’s occasionally reminiscent of sung-through musicals like Jacques Demy’s 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,' though the songs are deployed more sparingly. It’s a jarring, at times baffling conceit, though the point of it becomes clear: songs are artifice and fantasy, and so is the life that these people have painstakingly created inside an abandoned salt mine in the worst of times. Most of the songs from Joshua Schmidt and Marius de Vries aren’t especially memorable, but they’re not exactly designed to be; they’re monologues, more amorphous than hummable or hooky, though a couple of them (including a stately little ditty in which Shannon’s character embroiders some details about his courtship of his wife) manage to stand out."
Steve Pond, The Wrap
"Perhaps Oppenheimer and Rasmus Heisterberg’s script is deliberately harking back to a storytelling mode that was characteristic of Hollywood cinema for dramatic effect, but the musical aspect, while a neat gimmick, isn’t memorable or cohesive enough to make the homage, well, sing. Ultimately, Oppenheimer’s analysis of the genocidal attitudes of the ruling class isn’t quite as ruthless in the realm of fiction as it was in his two Oscar-nominated documentaries."
Mark Hanson, Slant Magazine
"The first major problem with 'The End' is that it's not a good musical. It's been described as attempting the style of 'Golden Age musical,' but Rodgers and Hammerstein would snore through all these forgettable tunes. I'm not familiar with the other works of composer Joshua Schmidt so I can't tell you how 'The End' compares to them, but the film's other composer, Marius de Vries, has produced many superior movie musical soundtracks, including 'Moulin Rouge!,' 'La La Land,' and (the closest match to this in terms of artsy weirdness) 'Annette,' so this comes as a real disappointment. Of the four lead actors, George MacKay and Moses Ingram have strong singing voices, so their numbers are more enjoyable than the ones led by Michael Shannon and Tilda Swinton, who ... were cast for their acting talent. You could maybe argue their not-great singing is a deliberate choice for their characters, though in that case it might not go far enough in making that clear. Going the extra distance to make MacKay's character really suck at dancing in one of the film's only real dance sequences is one of the better jokes. I'm also disappointed how little imagination is put into the staging of these numbers. The evocative sets -- the massive salt mines outside the bunker, the walls within covered in classical paintings -- should be a playground for great set pieces, but maybe four of the dozen or so musical numbers do anything evocative with their choreography, and even then the attempts at spectacle feel half-hearted. Why even make this a musical if the filmmakers were going to half-ass what makes musicals special?"
Reuben Baron, Looper
"Boy also kicks off the film’s first musical number, which provides all kinds of aesthetic and conceptual whiplash. He sings optimistically about a sunrise, something he has never seen, and can only imitate by pointing a flashlight over his tiny figurines. The mid-20th-century orchestra builds, as it might for a standard hopeful 'I Want…' number about a character’s dreams. But the crescendo never arrives, and Oppenheimer’s unbroken takes never flourish into full-on formal grandeur. Given the physical constraints of the bunker, they can’t... These realizations are also expressed in the form of solo numbers as each character wanders the hallways alone. There are few duets in 'The End' -- the family’s walled-off approach to living out their days has led to the suppression of not just emotion, but honest human connection. But when Girl finally shows up, and she and Boy take a liking to each other, the film starts to bloom in minor ways, from mischievous, playful songs accompanied by bodies in abstract motion to a camera that subtly sweeps through space, capturing a greater sense of romance (and pomp and circumstance) through movement and framing."
Siddhant Adlahka, Polygon
"The resulting fable surely would have benefited from some kind of suspense -- say, a thriller element that threatens its tight group of survivors -- but Oppenheimer stubbornly resists such concessions. In the end, 'The End' is less a musical as we might imagine than a handsome highbrow drama interspersed with melancholy original songs (fewer than you might think), penned by Oppenheimer, then set to music by Joshua Schmidt (a theater composer making his big-screen debut)."
Peter Debruge, Variety
"'The End' opens with humorous observations of how the family maneuvers this intricate obfuscation. Oppenheimer introduces music immediately: A strained ballad between Father, Son and eventually Mother signals the kind of songs that will be featured. The director wrote the lyrics for each number (Josh Schmidt composed the music) and most of them are somber and melancholic. This is, after all, a musical about the end of the world. But pay attention to when, and about what, the characters sing. The lyrics aren’t particularly memorable, but they do reveal how music facilitates their avoidance of reality. Deeply committed performances from the cast are a major strength of 'The End.' They sing, dance and leap (with choreography by Sam Pinkleton and Ani Taj) around the bunker trying to dodge accountability through increasingly histrionic songs. MacKay’s portrayal of an overly sheltered adult is particularly compelling, as is Ingram’s slow transformation into a hollowed-out version of herself."
Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywod Reporter
MOANA 2 - Songs by Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Opetaia Foa'i, Mark Mancina; Score by Mark Mancina
"You know what helps drive an animated adventure forward? Songs! And while 'Moana 2' might not be rife with all the instant hits of the first film, there are plenty of bangers on offer here, including the Cravalho-voiced showstopper 'Beyond,' the fun and frisky 'What Could Be Better Than This?,' and Johnson’s silly 'Can I Get a Chee Ho?' Mostly, they delight because they help push the story along, on its own spirited wavelength. It’s always a tough ask to improve upon an original, but 'Moana 2' is a sprightly addition to this sea-faring legacy. It does something nearly impossible in our sequel-glutted world: made me want further adventures. 'Moana 3,' ahoy?"
Kate Erbland, IndieWire
"But 'Moana 2' also isn’t a complete improvement on what came before it. Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i return for the film’s score, but Lin-Manuel Miranda is replaced by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear for the original songs. While in the moment, these songs are often powerful or playful in ways that further the story, they don't manage to stick with you after the movie is over the way Miranda’s songs did. By the time the film brings back 'We Know the Way (Te Fenua te Malie)' from the first film, the difference in the songs is quite apparent. The songs are fun, but it’s hard to compete with what Miranda did."
Ross Bonaime, Collider
"David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller are the trio of directors on the film, with Miller and Jared Bush writing the screenplay. But the biggest creative difference that audiences will notice is the songs. With Miranda moving on, the songwriters known as Barlow & Bear (Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear) have written all the numbers for the sequel, collaborating with returning composers Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i. Barlow & Bear went viral in 2021 with their 'Unofficial Bridgerton Musical' album, which eventually won a musical theater Grammy. The songs in 'Moana 2' are good, to be sure. They’re just not as addictive as Miranda’s ear worms -- the man has an uncanny skill for sprinkling seriously habit-forming syncopations into his songwriting -- and while the big ballad 'Beyond' and the jazzy rock number 'Get Lost' are certainly stirring, they don’t quite stick in the brain like 'You’re Welcome' or tug on the heartstrings like 'How Far I’ll Go.'"
Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times
"But enough about the plot, let’s talk about the music. It’s … fine. Infused with not only the authentic indigenous island sound but also with auditory callbacks to the original soundtrack, it lacks the catchy oomph that made little kids everywhere want to belt out 'How Far I’ll Go.' The one that comes closest is Matangi’s 'Get Lost,' which borders on being a power ballad. But overall, you won’t walk out of the movie theater singing. Johnson’s breakout song in 'Moana' was 'You’re Welcome,' which deftly combined quick turns of phrase lyrics with Johnson’s extravagant showman style. (Not going to lie, I’ve started many parental conversations with 'Kid, honestly, I could go on and on'). So expectations for Johnson’s big number in Moana 2 were perhaps unfairly high. But, despite Johnson’s enthusiastic efforts, 'Can I Get a Chee Hoo?,' written by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, can’t be viewed as anything but a disappointment. (Of note, TikTok star Barlow was in high school when the first movie came out). The missing ingredient here is no doubt Lin-Manuel Miranda, who lent his now iconic style to the first film (fret not, you can hear his work in the upcoming Disney film 'Mufasa: The Lion King')."
Amy Amatangelo, Paste Magazine
"It's a solid set-up for a quest adventure, but it's obvious early on that 'Moana 2' isn't going to be as exciting or as revelatory as 'Moana' was. The comedy is broader and sillier, the mission isn't as urgent, and the songs rarely say anything important about the characters or the situation. More often than not, it seems, they're inserted into the film simply because you can't have a musical without a musical number every 10 minutes or so. Numerous crewmembers from the first film are back, but 'Moana 2' has new directors (David Derrick Jr, Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller) and new songwriters, TikTok sensations Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. Their songs have the familiar Moana sound, but they're nowhere near as catchy or as witty as 'How Far I'll Go,' 'Shiny', 'You're Welcome,' or the others that Miranda wrote for the original film. At the screening I attended, people left the cinema singing his songs rather than the new ones, which is not a great sign."
Nicholas Barber, BBC.com
"The first 'Moana' featured original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who earned an Oscar nomination for 'How Far I’ll Go.' This time around, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear (aka Barlow & Bear) have stepped in, collaborating with returning composers Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa?i. Despite their Grammy-winning pedigree, the results are much less memorable. You know it’s a problem when you can’t remember one tune from the film a few minutes after walking out of the theater."
Gregory Ellwood, The Playlist
"The songwriting verve of Lin-Manuel Miranda is missed, too. Composers Barlow and Bear chip in with some catchy ditties, but there’s nothing to match 'How Far I’ll Go' and 'You’re Welcome.'"
Phil de Semlyen, Time Out
"Though it displays some symptoms of sequelitis, 'Moana 2' seems to have been made with enthusiasm, love, and impressive attention to detail by a group of gifted artists, many of whom have cultural roots in the South Pacific. The score is once again composed by Mark Mancina in collaboration with the Samoan-born, New Zealand–raised songwriter Opetaia Foa’i, but this time without the assistance of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote or co-wrote the most memorable songs in the 2016 film. The Grammy-winning composing team of Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear ('The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical') contribute songs that slot nicely into their dramatic places without ever leaving an impression as deep as the original’s 'How Far I’ll Go,' 'Shiny,' 'You’re Welcome,' or 'We Know the Way' (a rousing seafaring anthem sung mostly in Samoan and Tokelauan). The new movie’s big numbers are virtuosically belted by the golden-throated Cravalho and pleasingly sung-spoken by the Rock, whose incarnation of the conceited yet needy Maui may be the best work of his wrestling-turned-acting-turned-wrestling-again career. But I’d have been hard put to hum a single melody on the soundtrack half an hour after stepping out of the theater."
Dana Stevens, Slate.com
"But since it’s in theaters, all that matters is if Disney gets the audience out of the house. And they probably will, because on the surface 'Moana 2' ticks off a lot of boxes. It’s bright and colorful, even if the characters look more plasticky and doll-like than usual. It’s got a bunch of peppy songs, even though none of them are memorable whatsoever. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the musical numbers in the original lMoanal and his style is so distinct that all the sequel’s songwriters can’t quite recapture his vibe, let alone his catchiness and lyrical ingenuity."
William Bibbiani, The Wrap
"'Moana 2' tries splitting the difference between a couple different motivations for this, gesturing both at Moana’s general curiosity about the larger world and at some uncertain ill fate that will befall her (lush, thriving) island if it stays isolated. These are half-hearted ideas, embedded in Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear’s forgettable songs, ranging from truly terrible shipwrecks to embarrassing Lin-Manuel Miranda tribute band tracks. Losing Miranda is a terrible blow for the film, though his presence still haunts the dialogue. Every other line is about knowing the way, telling our stories, and how far we’ll go. It’s like how celebrities tend to repeat the same branding-appropriate phrases after the humanity has been coached out of them. It reinforces the sense that the sequel isn’t confident enough to strike out on its own."
Jacob Oller, AV Club
"'Moana' wasn’t exactly long on conflict, but that finale, in which Moana gives the living island of Te Fiti back her heart, was lovely enough that it didn’t really matter, and the songs, which Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote with Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina, were good, sometimes even great. 'Moana 2,' on the other hand, has a soundtrack composed by the 'Unofficial Bridgerton Musical' team of Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, and it’s so devoid of bangers or any remotely memorable tunes that there’s nothing to distract you from the movie’s lack of clear stakes, or meaningful drama, or antagonists with any personality."
Alison Willmore, New York
"This should be the movie that makes Moana into a truly heroic character, but the writers don’t give her enough to do for that to happen. They also don’t give her enough to sing. Don’t underestimate the power of a great song or two to really elevate the legacy of a Disney animated film. 'Frozen' wouldn’t have hit the same without 'Let It Go,' and the virality of that Bruno tune made 'Encanto' a hit. When people think of 'Moana,' the joyful 'You’re Welcome' and the Oscar-winning [sic] beauty of 'How Far I’ll Go' are often what they think of first, and the original songs here just don’t match the wonder of the original. To say that they really miss the involvement of Lin-Manuel Miranda would be an understatement. There’s a playful Maui tune called 'Can I Get a Chee Hoo?' that mostly works (and could maybe get that Bruno virality if the social team here plays it right), and you’ll hear a reasonably rousing recurring theme called “Beyond,” but neither will be pumping through Disney World like the best of these songs from the best of these movies."
Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
"Arguably, the most daunting area in which this carbon-copy approach to storytelling makes itself apparent is via the songs. With 'Frozen 2,' it was easy to feel the songwriters struggling with the burden of writing something with the stratospheric hit potential of 'Let It Go,' falling at the first hurdle by struggling to better something they'd never be able to. The big showstopper in 'Moana' was 'How Far I'll Go,' a ballad which ticked both the musical theater and pop chart crossover boxes by being a broad empowerment anthem, albeit with lyrics inextricably tied to the character's journey within the plot. The songs of 'Moana 2' never quite shake the allegation that they're designed to mirror those of the first, but songwriters Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear do a far better job of making their earworms feel distinct to those of their predecessor, something the 'Frozen' franchise didn't manage. The songwriters on 'Moana 2' been gifted the unenviable task of stepping into the shoes of Lin-Manuel Miranda, and love him or hate him, there's a reason he's become one of the Mouse House's resident hitmakers. But even if Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear's songs don't sound like bargain bin Miranda knock-offs, they share the same narrative preconceptions in a way that makes them pale in comparison. Take 'Here,' a power ballad complete with Auli'i Cravalho belting 'I am Moana!' in the final chorus, which is so transparently an attempt to recapture the magic of 'How Far I'll Go,' that the team behind the movie has already referred to it openly as a 'spiritual sequel.' As for 'You're Welcome,' the cheeky up-tempo number sung by Dwayne Johnson's Demigod Maui, it also gets an unflattering mirror in the form of 'Can I Get A Chee-Hoo,' by far the worst number on the soundtrack, if only because it's the only time when the voice actor performing it feels like they're phoning it in. If the other songs never quite feel as shameless in the ways they mimic numbers from the first film, then you have Cravalho's impressive pipes to thank."
Alistair Ryder, Looper
"Abigail Barlow, a pop singer-songwriter who has hit big on TikTok, and Emily Bear, a Grammy- and Emmy-winning piano prodigy and protégé of Quincy Jones, succeed Miranda with youthful energy and a reverence for the previous film. (Which makes sense: Both women would have been in their teens when 'Moana' hit theaters.) But whereas Miranda’s songs drove the original’s emotional arc, Barlow and Bear’s tracks race to keep up with a disjointed script that takes literal shortcuts to get Moana from her South Pacific home island, Motunui, to a mystical underwater mountain ravaged by a god’s curse. Barlow and Bear nail one thing: the foregrounding of Moana and Cravalho in the music. Moana anchors the ensemble-driven 'We’re Back,' and later takes over lead vocals from Miranda on a redux of 'We Know the Way' from the first movie. She’s the Wayfinder now, Oceania’s true leader, and she has the lung capacity to prove it. Her big song, 'Beyond,' feels like a totally serviceable pop hit for Cravalho, who belts hard enough to ensure the track’s place on Disney Radio for all eternity. The big surprise of 'Moana 2' is a song that feels completely detached from pretty much everything else around it in terms of style or story. Partway through her expedition, Moana meets magical bat-lady Matangi (Awhimai Fraser, the voice of Elsa in the Maori edition of Frozen), who has all the makings of a classic Disney villain. Matangi’s number, 'Get Lost,' is a fiery pop tune with a Motown spine, which Fraser wails like there’s no tomorrow. There are… devastating clunkers. 'What Could Be Better Than This?' is a hyperactive group song that finds Moana and her new ship crew singing at double speed and acting like they’re haunted by the 'Smile' demon. At one point, Moana’s brainy engineer pal Loto (Rose Matafeo) lays down some quick-fire lyrics, an attempt to imitate Miranda’s rap-infused work, that pound so hard they turn to pure mush. Even ardent fans of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 'I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General' may experience brain bleed during this relentless number. And the less we say of Maui’s new song, 'Can I Get A Chee Hoo?', the better. 'You’re Welcome' is looking more and more like a minor miracle for Dwayne Johnson, who descends into sub-Rex Harrison levels of speak-singing for a sporty Jock James chant masquerading as a song. When the synths kicked in, I tapped out."
Matt Patches, Polygon
“Moana 2” has three directors, David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, none of whom has made a feature before. They stage the film with a standard impressive technical flair, a flow of movement that keeps your eyeballs dancing. That said, this is also a musical, one that Lin-Manuel Miranda, having launched a new branch of his career as a Disney tunesmith with “Moana,” elected not to come back for. I can understand why: His “Moana” songs were memorable (especially “How Far I’ll Go” and “You’re Welcome”), and he only upped his game with “Encanto,” an even more intricately inspired entertainment. But Miranda, I’m guessing, figured that he’d already told the story of Moana through song and didn’t need to rehash it.The songs in “Moana 2,” by Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, are perky and appealing, with that electrified island drum bounce, but most of them sound like the imitation-Lin-Manual knockoffs they are. The early getting-wistful-about-the-ocean number, “Beyond,” is fine in a generic way, but it’s no “How Far I’ll Go.” “What Could Be Better Than This?” features a faux-Lin rap, and “Get Lost” has a catchy hook. But none of the songs summon that indelible quality that sealed the story of “Moana” into our hearts.
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
"It is clear that 'The Room Next Door' is a Pedro Almodóvar film. It features strong female heroines in Tilda Swinton’s Martha and Julianne Moore’s Ingrid and a striking use of color, with a heavy presence of bright reds and greens accompanied by Alberto Iglesias’s vibrant melodramatic score. Still, there is something not quite right about this one Almodóvar film, a dramedy that emulates all that makes a story Almodovarian but bypasses its essence entirely."
Rafa Sales Ross, The Playlist
"The director’s exquisite tailoring is in full flourish here, including Inbal Weinberg’s buttoned-up production design (I loved the inclusion of installation artist and painter Louise Bourgeois’s 'I Have Been to Hell and Back,' a late-in-life work alluding to familial regret, hanging on Martha’s wall). Alberto Iglesias’ string-induced score, for once, though feels a bit overplayed, forcing wind into the drama and pumping in extra-diegetic air where the momentum is otherwise missing."
Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
"Aided by sumptuous cinematography (Eduard Grau), a haunting score (Alberto Iglesias) and eye-popping production design (Inbal Weinberg) -- there’s always a font of interior decorating ideas in an Almodóvar film -- Martha’s journey toward the great unknown has everything but a light at the end of the tunnel."
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
"The movie feels sometimes subdued to a fault and could have used a few more notes of gallows humor to vary the tone, but it benefits enormously in terms of emotionality from the luxuriant carpeting of Alberto Iglesias’ score. Grau’s sedate camerawork has a contrasting calming effect, suggesting peace for Martha and sorrowful acceptance for Ingrid. The production appears to have shot mostly in Spain with just second unit work in Manhattan, but it captures an idea of New York, if not much sense of place."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE - Senjan Jansen
"Mielants, whose directing credits include FX’s 'Legion' and the terrific Arctic-set first season of AMC’s horror anthology, 'The Terror,' has a firm handle on the material that never falters. He coaxes the pathos out naturally and keeps the worst of what goes on at the Good Shepherd offscreen, an understated choice echoed in the light hand of Senjan Jansen’s score. Frequent shots observed through doorways deftly underline the weight of secrets in the story."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
THE NEXT TEN DAYS IN L.A.
Screenings of older films in Los Angeles-area theaters.
January 24
THE BIG LEBOWSKI (Carter Burwell) [Nuart]
BONA (Lutgardo Labad) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE CELL (Howard Shore) [New Beverly]
COOL HAND LUKE (Lalo Schifrin) [New Beverly]
DEEP RED (Giorgio Gaslini) [Vista]
GRINDHOUSE: DEATH PROOF [New Beverly]
THE LAST DRAGON (Misha Segal) [Vidiots]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MOONAGE DAYDREAM [Vidiots]
THE PRINCESS BRIDE (Mark Knopfler) [Vidiots]
PROMETHEUS (Marc Streitenfeld) [Los Feliz 3]
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross) [Los Feliz 3]
TANK GIRL (Graeme Revell) [BrainDead Studios]
THE TERMINATOR (Brad Fiedel) [Academy Museum]
TWIN PEAKS FIRE WALK WITH ME (Angelo Badalamenti) [BrainDead Studios]
VIRIDIANA (Gustavo Pittaluga) [Aero]
January 25
BEST IN SHOW [Vidiots]
BLACK DYNAMITE (Adrian Younge) [New Beverly]
BONA (Lutgardo Labad) [Alamo Drafthouse]
CAPTAIN BLOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) [New Beverly]
CENTRAL PARK [Los Feliz 3]
CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin) [Aero]
DEEP RED (Giorgio Gaslini) [Vista]
DRACULA [Egyptian]
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (Graeme Revell), GRINDHOUSE: PLANET TERROR (Robert Rodriguez, Graeme Revell) [New Beverly]
INTERVIEW WITHE THE VAMPIRE (Elliot Goldenthal) [Vidiots]
THE IRON GIANT (Michael Kamen) [Academy Museum]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MACGRUBER (Matthew Compton) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (Maurice Jarre) [Egyptian]
MANIAC (Jay Chattaway) [Cinelounge]
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Joe Hisashi) [Vidiots]
MYSTERY TRAIN (John Lurie) [BrainDead Studios]
ROBOCOP (Basil Poledouris) [Academy Museum]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
SEVEN (Howard Shore) [Los Feliz 3]
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross) [Los Feliz 3]
THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE (Steve Belfer, Gregor Narholz) [Aero]
THE STRAIGHT STORY (Angelo Badalamenti) [BrainDead Studios]
SUPERMAN (John Williams) [TCL Chinese]
THE THRILL OF BRAZIL [Vista]
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [TCL Chinese]
12 ANGRY MEN (Kenyon Hopkins) [Los Feliz 3]
VIRIDIANA (Gustavo Pittaluga) [Vidiots]
WILD AT HEART (Angelo Badalamenti) [Egyptian]
THE WIZARD OF OZ (Harold Arlen, Herbert Stothart) [Egyptian]
January 26
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin) [Academy Museum]
BLUE VELVET (Angelo Badalamenti) [Aero]
BONA (Lutgardo Labad) [Alamo Drafthouse]
BREATHLESS (Martial Solal) [Egyptian]
CAPTAIN BLOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold) [New Beverly]
CHILDREN OF MEN (John Tavener) [Egyptian]
CLUE (John Morris) [Los Feliz 3]
THE COLOR OF MONEY (Robbie Robertson) [Academy Museum]
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION [BrainDead Studios]
FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (Yoshihiro Hanno, Duu-CHih Tu) [Vidiots]
FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (Graeme Revell), GRINDHOUSE: PLANET TERROR (Robert Rodriguez, Graeme Revell) [New Beverly]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MON ONCLE (Franck Barcellini, Alain Romans) [Vidiots]
NECROPOLIS: LEGION (Chris Alexander, Richard Band) [Cinelounge]
NIGHT PATROL (Don Preston) [Cinelounge]
OVER THE MOON (Steven Price) [UCLA/Hammer]
THE PREVIEW MURDER MYSTERY [Los Feliz 3]
RABID [Cinelounge]
A ROOM WITH A VIEW (Richard Robbins) [Vidiots]
THE SMUGGLERS (Ahmed Zahar Derradji), A GIRL IS A GUN (Patrice Moullet) [UCLA/Hammer]
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross) [Los Feliz 3]
SPY KIDS (John Debney, Danny Elfman, Harry Gregson-WIlliams, Robert Rodriguez) [Aero]
SUBURBIA [BrainDead Studios]
THE THRILL OF BRAZIL [Vista]
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Elmer Bernstein) [Alamo Drafthouse]
12 ANGRY MEN (Kenyon Hopkins) [Los Feliz 3]
January 27
ATONEMENT (Dario Marianelli) [Vidiots]
BONA (Lutgardo Labad) [Alamo Drafthouse]
BURNT OFFERINGS (Robert Cobert), THE HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS (Ken Thorne) [New Beverly]
CLUE (John Morirs) [Los Feliz 3]
IN THE CUT (Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson) [Los Feliz 3]
INCEPTION (Hans Zimmer) [Academy Museum]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
ROBOCOP (Basil Poledouris) [Culver]
January 28
AMERICAN GRAFFITI [New Beverly]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MACGRUBER (Matthew Compton) [Alamo Drafthouse]
ROBIN HOOD (George Bruns) [Vidiots]
RRR (M.M. Keeravaani) [Vidiots]
TAMPOPO (Kunihiko Murai), BIG NIGHT (Gary DeMichele) [New Beverly]
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Elmer Bernstein) [Alamo Drafthouse]
ZOO [Los Feliz 3]
January 29
CLUE (John Morris) [Vidiots]
LADY AND THE TRAMP (Oliver Wallace) [New Beverly]
LUCKY (Elvis Kuehn) [BrainDead Studios]
THE RED SHOES (Brian Easdale) [Vidiots]
TAMPOPO (Kunihiko Murai), BIG NIGHT (Gary DeMichele) [New Beverly]
January 30
BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR (Christopher Lennertz, Dara Taylor) [Egyptian]
A GOOFY MOVIE (Carter Burwell) [Vidiots]
HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE (Patrice Rush, Udi Harpaz) [Vidiots]
PERFECT DAYS [Vidiots]
TAMPOPO (Kunihiko Murai), BIG NIGHT (Gary DeMichele) [New Beverly]
January 31
THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Nick Cave, Warren Ellis) [BrainDead Studios]
BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (Quincy Jones) [Vista]
DEVIL AND THE DEEP, THE CHEAT [New Beverly]
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (John Carpenter, Alan Howarth) [BrainDead Studio]
THE FALL (Krishna Levy) [Vidiots]
GRINDHOUSE: DEATH PROOF [New Beverly]
L.A. STORY (Peter Rodgers Melnick) [Vidiots]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (Joe Hisaishi) [Vidiots]
NIGHT RAIDERS (Moniker) [Academy Museum]
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (Carter Burwell) [Nuart]
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (Bruce Smeaton) [Egyptian]
POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING (Matthew Compton) [Alamo Drafthouse]
SNATCH (John Murphy) [New Beverly]
UP AND DOWN, SHIPWRECKED ON ROUTE D17 (Patrice Moullet) [UCLA/Hammer]
February 1
BALLET [Los Feliz 3]
BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (Quincy Jones) [Vista]
THE CABLE GUY (John Ottman) [Vista]
COMING TO AMERICA (Nile Rodgers) [Alamo Drafthouse]
DEATH'S GLAMOUR (Patrice Moullet) [UCLA/Hammer]
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Jon Brion) [Alamo Drafthouse]
I AM LEGEND (James Newton Howard) [Vidiots]
THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY (Herschel Burke Gilbert) [Vidiots]
THE MATRIX (Don Davis) [New Beverly]
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG (Randy Newman) [Academy Musuem]
ROBOT DREAMS (Alfonso de Vilallonga) [Los Feliz 3]
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (Richard O'Brien, Richard Hartley) [Nuart]
SEVEN (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
SPRING (Jimmy Lavalle) [Alamo Drafthouse]
WINNIE THE POOH (Henry Jackman) [Vidiots]
WORLD ON A WIRE (Gottfried Hungsberg) [Academy Museum]
February 2
AKIRA (Shoji Yamashiro) [Academy Museum
BLUE CRUSH (Paul Haslinger) [Vidiots]
THE CABLE GUY (John Ottman) [Vista]
COMING TO AMERICA (Nile Rodgers) [Alamo Drafthouse]
GET OUT (Michael Abels) [Academy Museum]
GROUNDHOG DAY (George Fenton) [Alamo Drafthouse]
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (Howard Shore) [Alamo Drafthouse]
PAPER MOON [Vidiots]
THE RUGRATS MOVIE (Mark Mothersbaugh) [Los Feliz 3]
SOUL (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste) [Vidiots]
WEST SIDE STORY (Leonard Bernstein, Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal) [New Beverly]
THINGS I'VE HEARD, READ, SEEN OR WATCHED LATELY
Heard: RoboCop 2 (Rosenman); The Enemy Below (Harline); Wolfwalkers (Coulais); Gray Lady Down (Fielding); Hunter Killer (Morris); Ice Station Zebra (Legrand); The Hunt for Red October (Poledouris); K19: The Widowmaker (Badelt); On the Beach (Gold); Phantom (Rona); 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Smith); U-571 (Marvin); Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Sawtell/Shefter)
Read: Partners in Crime, by Agatha Christie
Seen: Hard Truths; Den of Thieves 2: Pantera; Swing Time; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Wolf Man; One of Them Days; Revenge of the Shaolin Master; The Invincible Kung Fu Legs; Arrival
Watched: Columbo ("Candidate for Crime," "Double Negative"); Robbery
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